Most people would end up with egg on their face after such a public rumpus. Not Our Man Flynn.
— Tim
Errol Strikes Gold in New Guinea – By the Light of His Hurricane Lamps
29
Apr
When Errol moved to Salamaua, Papua New Guinea, he “plunged” himself into reading great works of literature – through “Russian novelists, Greek philosophers, French writers” he nightly “skipped, waded, muddled” and “sometimes swam well”, by the light of his hurricane lamps, fondling these books as if [he] were running his hands through a lovely woman’s hair”. “An inner need for learning sprang up in [him]” “to connect with the ideas of the world” – a need that proved pivotal in his life. This was where and how Errol found gold in New Guinea, as he put it.
Here’s Errol’s own description of that transformative time & experience:
And here’s pre-WWII Salamaua, where Errol lived:
Errol’s Jungle Reading List included:
Aristotle
Honore de Balzac
George Baudelaire (Correction: that should obviously be Charles Baudelaire!)
Victor Hugo
Guy de Maupassant
Plato
Edmond Rostand – Errol particularly liked the “beauty of style” of Rostand, who he read with the help of a French dictionary, and said had the “greatest influence upon [him]”. He specifically cited L’Aiglon, the story of Napoleon II. I imagine he also read Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Here’s some images of the books as Errol may have seen them:
Robert Louis Stevenson
H. G. Wells
Here are some 1930 images of The Outline of History, as Errol may have seen it:
— Tim
Box Office
25
Apr
Here is a link to a nifty box office list for Flynn. It even mentions this blog. Since there were only half as many people living on the planet at that time you really have to double the numbers I think even though they are adjusted for inflation
— twinarchers
Out Like Flynn: Senor Fleen Sneaks Out Through the Banos Window
25
Apr
Party at the Hotel Florida! (… A Spanish Republican party at that!)
Gelhorn chasing Hemingway. Hemingway hitting Welles with a chair. Capa faking photos. The Duchess eating all the spinach. Philby spying for Stalin. Flynn sneaking out the bathroom window. F. Scott giving his highest praise.* Man, Errol got invited to (and skipped out of)the best parties!
* Doesn’t say so here, but I think John Dos Passos was hanging around the Hotel Florida in those days, too. In fact, didn’t he even write something about a bathroom there once? Heck, who knows, maybe that was the one Errol snuck out of!
— Tim
“Cruise of the Cotten” Starring Errol Flynn
24
Apr
Errol Joins Some Sailors Cruising the Med for Dinner!~ [Third week of September, 1955]
The “French Riviera” “controversial Bikini”, along with the “prettiest sightseeing [in the Mediterraranean] is discussed on the following page, page 27. The Ward Room where Errol likely dined is on p. 47.
In the Med, September, 1955 – Just how & when Errol saw her:
— Tim
Virile Errol’s Royal Pain in the Ass
24
Apr
Mystery Solved!
Who Brushwhacked The Baron-to-Be in Manhattan? Madame Natalie Paley LeLong,that’s who!
Here is Man Ray’s photographic portrait of Errol Flynn’s notorious “Princess Naomi Tiarovitch”, who, to my knowledge, has never been identified before in any document or forum. In fact, she is specifically never identified by her true name in any work I have seen regarding Flynn, including, of course, not in My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Using the “Errol Code” I have confirmed that she twice travelled on the same ship from Europe to New York with virile Errol*. The first time she was carrying with her a rather infamous hair brush. She was on a separate SS Paris passenger list than Errol, and she did not identify herself as Russian, nor as a princess – but she was indeed both. Mr. Flynn was telling the truth – in Errol Code!
This 1934 photographic rendering by Man Ray was published the same year Errol got the “brush off” from notorious Natalie:
And here’s a lovely portrait of her hanging in the Museum of Modern Art:
A website devoted to her life & career:
With her Royal Family, Natalie (aka Natalia) standing next to also prominent older sister Irina (aka Irene):
* Under different names and biographical descriptions.
— Tim
Santa Fe Trail DVD
24
Apr
For some reason that I don’t remember, this film is in the public domain and there are many versions of it available. The image below is far superior from the other pictured, and from what I have read its the best version. It also contains another feature as a bonus. Marengo Films puts it out but the copy I received the other day has a different cover than the one shown. As long as its from Marengo you are safe. This is one of Flynn’s better western films and maybe Warners will put out an official version at least as good looking as Virginia City. Has anyone else purchased this film and if so what have you found out? Diamond put out a version of One Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando and one person has purchased 19 different versions of that film which all come from the laser disc release that was official.
The image below is another version I have and it’s the one to stay away from, a Diamond release. Very poor quality.
— twinarchers
“They Died With Their Boots On”-Some “Then & Now” Outtakes
23
Apr
Here are a couple of samples that won’t be in the book, mostly because they just aren’t good enough, but also because I don’t want it to be Flynn-heavy. The publisher who first expressed interest convinced me to widen the scope of film choices to include more films from recent times, something I reluctantly agreed to even though seriously cutting into the samples from classic films.
Often, film locations will be discovered, only to pose difficulties in positioning oneself in the precise spot from which the movie’s cameraman filmed the scene (David can attest to this, having joined me on a search I was doing to set up a shot for a scene from “Charge of the Light Brigade”). Also, although only official stills are being used for the book, there are occasions when no stills were taken for a particular scene and I use a screen grab to locate and set up a “Now” shot for my own interest. This is the case in the two samples shown here. I may not be publishing them, but they are fun for me to share with fellow fans on the blog.
The wide sample is a composite of screen grabs and my location photos. I will often put a composite together to show a wider view of the location that the panning movie camera didn’t capture in one framing (see the duel with Friar Tuck in my “Then & Now” page). The two stitched screen grabs show Flynn on horseback in both shots, and required me to shoot from two positions to replicate the panorama. The results are less than satisfactory (there are condominiums and overgrown trees now in the way), but I think we Flynn fans can appreciate it more than would the ordinary film fan.
Also included is a sample from another scene from the same basic location, a better lining- up of my “Now” shot but less interesting because the scene doesn’t highlight Flynn.
Enjoy!
— Robert
Who is it? Who is it?
23
Apr
Who is She or He?
1) He or she was born in France.
2) His or her father was a famous Parisian.
3) His or her portrait – painted before meeting Errol – hangs in a leading museum.
4) Many considered him or her to be handsome or beautiful.
5) He or she was a friend of Noel Coward, as was his or her very close companion.
6) George Cukor liked him or her, also.
7) He or she had relations with a number of notable men.
8) He or she once made a movie with Merle Oberon.
9) He or she was almost in a movie with Errol.
10) He or she is mentioned in MWWW, but not his or her wife or husband or partner.
— Tim
A Curtiz Goulash is Made of Empty Horses
20
Apr
My dear fellow Flynn fans,
here is all the Austrian National Library has to offer about director deluxe Michael Curtiz in his pre Hollywood days.
He was born Michaly Mano Kertesz Kaminer in Budapest on the 24th of december in 1888.
He came from an upper middle class jewish family. His mother Aranka Vatz was an opera singer and his father Ignaz Kaminer an architect. He had two brothers, Gabriel and David. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Theatre and Art and attended the Markoszy University.
He started out as a child singer in 1899 and later became an actor in 1912 in the film “Today and tomorrow”. Then and there he confided to a friend that he intended to switch sides and was more interested in directing than acting.
He allegedly was part of the Hungarian fencing team at the Olympics in Stockholm of the same year.
In 1913 he took part in a monumental film called “Atlantis” made in Denmark, and claimed to be inspired by the very innovative way of film making there ever since.
In 1914/15 he served in the Infantry of the Austro- Hungarian Army along the Russian front and was wounded. He finished the war as newsreel camera man (one of the first of ist kind) making propaganda films.
In 1915 he married Ilona Kovacs Perenyi, a silent film actress also known as Lucy Doraine. Their daughter Katharine was born in 1916. His first marriage lasted until 1923.
In 1917 he became managing director of the newly founded Phoenix film production Company in Hungary.
By 1918 he had finished at least 38 films (some sources say 50), all lost or reduced to fragments.
When Bela Kun established the first communist regime in Hungary in March of the same year, Kertesz was busy filming “Liliom”, originally a play of Ferenc Molnar about a trigger temper carnival barker, who after serving time in purgatory for comitting suicide gets a second chance to do good on his daughter Julie. The 1945 broadway show “Carousel” is based on this story. It is the one and only of his 165 films Kertesz couldn´t finish. He fled the country with his family in turbulent times after Bela Kun was overthrown after a 120 day reign. Other prominent emigrants were Sandor (later: Alexander) Korda and Bela Lugosi.
During that period he is said to have made a film titled “Odette” in Sweden starring a 14 year old Greta Grabo.
From 1919 on Sascha Film Productions owner Count Alexander Kolowrat employed Kertesz in Vienna. Until 1926 timeless classics like “Sodom und Gomorrha” and “Die Sklavenkönigin” were made there with huge budgets and produced standard setting innovations. The film known in the US as “The Moon of Israel” went head to head with Cecil B. De Mille`s “Ten Commandments” covering the exact topic of the exodus of the Israelits. Not to be outdone Kertesz contrived new ways for the scene of the parting of the Red Sea in order to match the superior Hollywood effects machinery. It was this pioneer spirit and the capability to direct up to 5000 extras that landed him a 28 year long lasting job with Warner Bros.
He made 3 films in Berlin with Count Kolowrat`s diva darling of the day Lili Damita (see EF blog: “The thrill of being Tiger Lil`”), before she became Mrs. Errol Flynn.
In 1929 he married Helen Lucas, a screen writer and actress also known under the stage name of Bess Meredyth.
In 1931 a certain Helen Lucy Doraine Rietmüller (rather: Reitmüller) can be found on the passengers list of the SS Bremen entering the port of NY. She claimed her residence to be in Hollywood 5680 Hilloak Drive. Despite their seperation Kertesz may have seen for his first wife to come to America.
In 1935 at age 19 his only legitimate child Katharina arrived at Los Angeles following her parents on February 23rd, again via the SS Bremen. Kertesz was a no show at the port probably working on the lot. “Kitty” becomes a scholar at the New York Art College. Four years later she tried to commit suicide and gives a sense of abbandonement as reason to the press.
But she was not the only Kertesz sibling to be left behind on the old continent. A son called Michael had been born to a bank accountant in 1920. Alimony was paid for him by Warners. His second daughter Sonja was born in 1923 to aspiring actress Miss Dalla Bona from the Sodom & Gomorrah set. In 1925 his second son was born to another actress from the S&G set, Miss Vondrak . Michael II. briefly worked for his dad as gaffer at the studios and is now a painter in Seattle. Last but not least the daughter of actress Jill Gerard was acknowleged by a parental court to be Curtiz`child. She was born in 1956 when Casablanca`s favourite son was a mere 70 years old.
Back to 1935 and the filming of a flick called “The case of the curious bride”. It was there when a scene required of an unknown Australian actor to mime a beautiful corpse covered with a blanket. When the cameras were rolling the silence suddenly was broken by a hearty sneeze from down under the blanket. Whereupon the temperamental dictator-director Curtiz supposedly snapped: “You-no-good-bum-of-a-sum-of-a-bitch, don´t you know, nose of dead man is dead also !?
The rest is Errol Flynn history.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
